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KIPKAS OPERATED DAIRY
October 6, 1983

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PIX #1 - Scenes of E.W. Kipka Dairy Farm at about
turn of the century and for some years hence. The Interior of the
barn where cows were kept and milked remains about the same today.
Note that there was also a silo near the barn...even back then.

PIX #2 - O.E. Kipka, brother of E.W., had his own
milk business...buying milk from his brother or other farmers, and
delivering it in the typical wagon shown above. O.E. called his
business Lynwood Dairy.

Ols milk bottles from earlier times and the old dairies
in Fostoria that used them always interest readers. Today's story
is continued from "Potluck" ar- ticles of the past, but also includes
some information about the Kipka fami- lies who were involved in
the dairy business at the turn of the century.

About a year ago I received a telephone call from
Mrs. Clair Frankart, who with her husband resides on the former
E.W. Kipka farm west of Fostoria on a private road leading south
of Hancock County Road 226.

It's quite amazing what that telephone call led me
to discover...and remember from years ago.

Mrs. Frankart asked if there had ever been a dairy
at the western edge of Fostoria. When I informed her, "Yes, the
Kipka dairy," she said they owned the Kipka farm and lived there,
and that they had found many milk bottles on the property.

In the meantime, I learned sources of more information,
and among them Ray Dell photos, I discovered pictures used with
today's articles...just waiting to be used...so that today's readers
could know more about the Kipka dairy and the family.

I had been referred to Ed Dreitzler, Columbus Avenue,
for more information, but because of his illness was referred to
Mrs. J. C. Biller, Mt. Jackson, Va., a granddaughter of E.W. Kipka
who had the dairy on his farm west of Fos- toria. Mrs. Biller's
mother, Lelie Kipka Dreitzler, daughter of E.W. Kipka, 97, resides
in a nursing home in Mt. Jackson, Va., area but is reported to still
have a keen memory of the past.

The E.W. Kipka dairy was already in operation in 1896.
Accompanying photos show exterior and interior views of the barn.

According to Mrs. Biller, the E.W. Kipka dairy operation
was very modern for that period in time, having stanchions and mechanical
milkers.

In the basement of the Kipka home they had a large
tank with running cold water to cool the milk in the five-and 10-gallon
cans. At first milk was sold by the dipper (unbottled), but eventually
it was sold in pint and quart glass bottles. Bottle washing and
sterilization was done in the basement of the home.

But believe it or not, only one of the bottles which
the Frankharts have sal- vaged is a Kipka bottle, and they intend
to keep it.

At about the same time E.W. Kipka started in the dairy
business, his brother O.E. did also, at 459 Findlay St., the exact
location where Eli Fox lived later and had Fox Dairy.

According to Mr. Biller, Otto had no herd of milk
cows. All of the milk he sold he bought either from his brother
or other farmers. He sold it house-to- house from the wagon shown
in the accompanying photo. NO one has been able to identify the
man standing beside the Lynwood Dairy wagon is Otto or just an unidentified
driver.

That wasn't all of the Kipkas in the milk business.
In an 1896 directory James H. Kipka was listed as a boarder, living
with the O.B. Kipka family at 459 Findlay St., where the Linwood
Dairy was located.

But, in later directories, 1913 through 1924 James
H. Kipka was listed as living at 129 Elm St., with wife, Minnie,
and he was in the dairy business. I can vouch for James at that
time since I worked for him on holidays and Saturdays, riding with
him in a wagon similar to the one illustrated. I know he housed
his horse in a barn behind the house, which was about where Lowell
School is now. He did not have a dairy in the strict sense of the
word, so he must have purchased his milk in bulk or bottled from
O.E. Kipka.

Now back to E.W. Kipka farm and dairy on South Ridge
Road. Mrs. Biller re- calls that the dairy business was very lucrative
back in those days, presum- ably because E.W. Kipka had his own
dairy herd. At any rate, in about 1926 he sold the dairy business
to Alfred Holman, who continued it for many years. Kipka did not
sell the farm at that time but retired and moved into Fostoria,
residing on South Wood Street. The underpass took his house.

In the 1924 directory O.E. Kipka was listed as a farmer,
but was residing at 211 W. Center St. He and his wife, Grace, had
two daughters, Helen Shervey, the eldest, and Virginia who was younger.
Helen is deceased. Virginia is now Dr. Pierce, a renowned cancer
specialist at Sloan-Kettering Institute in New York.

Some readers will recall that after the death of Otto
Kipka, his wife, Grace, married W.C. Huber; also that she worked
at The J.B. Rogers Co. for many years.

The Frankart family bought the E.W. Kipka farm from
the heirs of that family in 1962 and have resided there since. The
farm and the house is well-main- tained and is a comfortable place
to reside.

Mr. Frankart retired from Chrysler Foundry before
it discontinued operations in Fostoria.